The Man with the Gun
About The Man with the Gun
In 1917, with General Pyotr Krasnov's forces moving on the capital, soldier Ivan Shadrin is sent from the German front to Petrograd with a letter of questions for Lenin. At the Smolny he wanders with a rifle and a kettle, looking for boiling water, and meets a short man in a three-piece suit. The man answers him. A guard tells Shadrin afterward that it was Lenin. Shadrin shouts, "Comrades! I just talked to Lenin!" Back at the front, on a reconnaissance in Tsarskoye Selo, he nearly takes a White general and lets him go. Dymov later tells that story in front of Lenin and Stalin, who tell Shadrin that next time a soldier will not hesitate before a general. Shadrin keeps fighting for Petrograd and, back in the city, hears Lenin speak at the Putilov factory.
Cast & crew
More about The Man with the Gun
Sergei Yutkevich directed Nikolai Pogodin's script at Lenfilm. Maksim Shtraukh plays Lenin. Boris Tenin plays Shadrin. Mikheil Gelovani plays Stalin; those scenes were taken out of a cut version. Zhozef Martov photographed it. Wikidata lists publication dates of 1 November 1938 and 29 January 1939.
Themes
Background
The action is the October Revolution, with Krasnov's army approaching Petrograd.
Look
Zhozef Martov was the cinematographer.
Music
Dmitri Shostakovich wrote the score.
Preservation
A cut version circulates without Gelovani's Stalin.
Notes
- Zoya Fyodorova plays Katya.
- The story moves through the Smolny, Tsarskoye Selo, and the Putilov factory.
- Gelovani's Stalin was removed from a later cut.
Scenes
- Shadrin, rifle and kettle in hand, talks to a short man at the Smolny and only later learns it was Lenin.
- He almost captures a White general at Tsarskoye Selo and lets him leave.
Influenced by
- Nikolai Pogodin's script
Also available
- Wikimedia Commons (1938. Человек с ружьём.webm)
Quotes
Comrades! I just talked to Lenin!
Next time, a soldier won't hesitate before a general!
